I am someone who generally respects authority and the work that the first responders do which goes unnoticed and often unappreciated. That being said, I am appalled that a police officer in Covington, Kentucky told a woman to stop putting up the posters you see above. The teen you see above is Paige Johnson and she is 17 and a teen mom to a two year old girl. She has been missing since September and her grandmother spends most of her free time putting up posters of her missing granddaughter.
Instead of continuing the search or doing something to assist the family in their search or healing, the police department has instead decided to tell the family to stop posting the fliers on telephone poles because it is illegal. It might be illegal but it is not like she is plastering up notices of a garage sale or how to work from home and make $10,000 a week. She is looking for a missing teen and the police admitted they have no leads. Perhaps this will jog someone's memory and give them leads. Perhaps this will substitute for having to put more hours into the investigation by the police. They should be happy for the assistance and not penalizing someone just because the department feels inadequate because they have no leads.
Apparently the city manager agrees and is also an a-hole and also says they need to come down. Yeah, tell me how you feel when your daughter turns up missing. You keep putting them up and lets see if the city has the guts to ticket her or tear them down in front of cameras rolling. This just makes me more mad every word I type so I need to stop.
They are soo wrong.
ReplyDeletewho the hell do I need to write to complain about that? let the grandmother put up the freakin posters! Asshats!
ReplyDeleteThe police and the city should have been putting up the posters!
ReplyDeleteHA! Found thier website! I am going to send an email if anyone wants to join me.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.covkypd.org/
I don't mean to sound cold, but if there is a law against postings then they should uphold it. Once we start making exceptions to laws, then where do we stop? I look at this as a slippery slope kind of thing. There may be other worthy causes to post (such as a fundraiser to pay for a young parent's medical expenses while fighting a terminal illness). How do you turn that away when you allowed this. And if you allow, then none of the postings will have any meaning because there will be so many of them on a pole.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, they city could have handled this way better. I would think the grandma may have more success in asking businesses to post in their windows and stores.
Having been a peace officer at one time myself, officers can use discretion regarding the law when and where they deem appropriate. This is an excellent example of where they should use their discretion.
ReplyDeleteHow about a call in campaign tot he city manager of Covington KY to let him know how we all feel without telling how all these people from everywhere are calling about the same thing? It's a disgrace the police have the time to harass a family member of a missing woman but not use that valuable time to find the poor girl.
ReplyDeleteWhat heartless beasts.
Now, seriously, Patty, are you saying that a law should just be upheld just to be upheld in a situation in which a young woman is missing and may be dead? I don't know about you, but there are laws and then there are times to use discretion and occasionally pay them no mind. A human life actually in real, critical danger in the immediate is certainly one of those times; those other situations you had mentioned are not exactly immediate and can be handled through better means.
ReplyDeleteI can be as cold-blooded as anyone. But as someone who was involved in a criminal justice search (in this case, for the man who murdered my cousin a decade ago), I'm especially sympathetic to situations in which human life has been endangered or cases in which justice must be served. The cop and the city manager in this case are engaged in jerk behavior and deserve a public shaming -- if not the loss of their jobs.
I agree with sevenmack and, thanks to bigmama, I am emailing them now.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sevenmack and although I see what you are saying Patty I think there is a SIGNIFICANT difference between putting up a flyer for a fundraiser and posting a flyer for a MISSING PERSON.
ReplyDelete@BigMama I am with you, sending email today!
ReplyDeleteIf anything positive comes out of this a-hole move. It might of just brought national attention to the missing woman.
I hope Dateline, 48 Hours or 20/20 pick up on the story.
Well, things are just different these days. Those poster people should have been posting on MySpace looking for her or entering in Hot Body Contests to try to find her, obviously! Seriously, did these people even wait 31 days before posting?!?!?!?
ReplyDeleteThat's Kentucky for you. Or that's law enforcement for you. Take your pick, either one is a legitimate statement, unfortunately. I'm a Kentuckian born and raised, and I'll be the first to admit that our law enforcement aren't really known for being the sharpest tools in the shed.... maybe the most egocentric, but not the sharpest.
ReplyDelete_-_=_, you read my mind. I believe the new rule is a minimum of 31 days of waiting. Only then may you report, and actively look for, a missing person. This girl is only 17. You know something happened that ain't good.
ReplyDeleteWhy do some missing people make the news and others don't? I know people make the race argument but it won't work in this case.
The grandma needs to give up on the local authorities and contact Nancy Grace.
ReplyDeleteSorry, haters but it's TRUE!
fishy. she's young, white & blonde. nancy grace must not have heard about her. or jane valez mitchell. maybe they'll finish up with ca and get on this soon.
ReplyDeleteMaybe someone should email Nancy Grace the story....
ReplyDeleteI agree that the only reason the grandmother is not allowed to post those notices is because it makes the police department look bad. They don't even sound like officers to me, more like the apple dumpling gang.
ReplyDeleteWhat are they going to do? Arrest a grandmother for posting flyers of her missing granddaughter. If I was here I'd be standing outside of Wal-mart every day handing those out. Any problems and I'm sure local news will be on scene to broadcast it. Which will then go national, as these things do.
Emailing now.
ReplyDeleteThe email given above didn't work so I emailed the Mayor.
ReplyDelete...and CNN.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/feedback/tips/newstips.html
I'd keep putting them up until they fined me or tried to arrest me and then I'd bring in the local news. It might be the only way to get attention for her granddaughter.
ReplyDeleteHow very sad.
It's against the law to put up fliers in my town too, but when my cat was missing I put up tons and no one said anything - including the cop who passed me while I was doing it.
ReplyDeleteI get the reason for the law, but c'mon, if someone looked the other way for my CAT, I think someone can look the other way for a HUMAN BEING.
to me laws are only in place to govern the people and not have chaos. to me 'governing' people should entail trying to help them in crisis, including life and death situations.
ReplyDeleteto be so cold blooded as to say 'well, that is the law' is so counter intuitive its mind blowing! what good is even having laws unless they both protect AND help people in need?!
p.s. that 2nd photo of her and her daughter breaks my heart
ReplyDeleteTo Nancy Grace's credit, I read that she takes up plenty of cases of missing people who are not blonde girls.
ReplyDeleteOne of the many reasons I am for everyone being microchipped. Imagine if this problem never existed anymore. No more children on milk cartons, no more America's Most Wanted, no more flyers on telephone poles like this. Imagine how few incidents of kidnapping there would be overall since everyone would know they could be found quickly.
ReplyDeleteBut so many loons want to yell "But they will know when I drive to Walmart!"
Sigh...
I haven't been to Walmart in years, Jessica, but I don't want to be RFID'd.
ReplyDeleteI preferred to be called a patriot rather than a loon, though.
If you don't mind.
City Manager:Larry Klein- Phone#: 859-292-2160 Fax#: 859-292-2137.
ReplyDeleteasst. City Manager: Larisa Sims.
Go to: www.covingtonky.com/index
Click on their name in blue to get the e-mail link.
Morons need to pick their battles better. Do they REALLY want to be the asshats who stopped someone from finding that girl?
RQ is right -- All levels of law enforcement use discretion in enforcing laws. This would be an excellent time for the Covington PD to do so. And Jasmine, that IS a precious and heartbreaking image.
ReplyDeleteThanks to y'all for the links; i hope something good comes out of this for Paige and her family.
Yeah, there's laws against speeding and not everyone gets a ticket when caught. This is ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING.
ReplyDeleteI'm also sick of the attacks on Nancy Grace. One of the extreme few (only?) who has committed themselves to bringing awareness to the missing AND simultaneously honors our fallen soldiers. Right, lets attack the woman who actually gives a damn and not the ones who don't do a damn thing!!!
17 with a 2 year old? Jesus!
ReplyDeleteamen ChasingHeaven!
ReplyDeletewhy are women in the public always so scrutinized/villified for their beliefs when they do so with an unapologetic strong voice?
Team Grace!
I am actually from Covington. This family has been trying to find her since she first went missing. They have posted in every store window and bulletin board in town. They are desperate to find her, and unfortunately, our police don't seem to be as committed to the cause. They are too busy arresting people for petty things, and hiding at stop signs, hoping you will make a traffic error. I'm sorry, but it seems that when it comes to real crimes, such as this one, they have no idea what to do, so they busy themselves with smaller issues, rather than focus on the big. Thanks to all of you who are getting in on emails to the city. This poor family needs all the help it can get.
ReplyDeleteI have the unfortunate distinction of having been on the Nancy Grace show as a guest. Take it from someone with first hand knowledge of the way she treats crime victims--she does not deserve to be defended by anyone. She's like any other entertainer--just out to make a buck.
ReplyDelete@Chasing Heaven - I emailed Nancy/CNN a link to this story earlier today. Hopefully, she will give it the airtime it deserves.
ReplyDeleteok people here family has been searching for her since she first went missing shes been gone 10 months now thats WAY more than 31days. SHe has a 3 yr old growing up with out her mom. This case has already been on nancy grace but that was before police took down her fliers and told her grandma she cant post anymore.
ReplyDelete